(23-01-2012 12:19 PM)Unreal Wrote: that's kinda what I'm getting at. Who the fuck does know? Why are they considered bad and other words aren't.

Swearing is based on society. "Bad words" are created through the evolution of language, and, as a word, they are wholly innocent; however, their connotations are created through this evolution. It is much like morality.

Wouldn't being a Christian require you to believe that everyone spoke the same language once, until the destruction of the Tower Bable in which people dispersed and spoke different langauges?

Obviously language evolves. So does life.

(23-01-2012 12:50 PM)germanyt Wrote: Fuck you you fuckin fuck.

(23-01-2012 12:49 PM)Jasrace Wrote: It is very insulting to show someone the bottom of your shoe and point in Iraq. It is equivalent to giving someone the bird in America.

British people call cigarettes FAGS.

I guess if you want to be polite, you must observe the customs of the society you're in.
There is a time and place to be vulgar, I wouldn't want to offend old people or be inappropriate with children present, but that's common sense I thnk. If my beliefs offend you, sorry.

I'm pretty sure no one in the UK actually calls a cigarette a fag.

That is the slang for them.

But fag in the UK is also slang for gay. And just as derogatory as in the U.S. And I'm still pretty sure no one actually calls a cig a fag. That may be another word for them but no one seriously calls it that.

brb let's go puff a fag

WAT?

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.”

(23-01-2012 03:50 PM)Ghost Wrote: In French, in Quebec, all swears are based on Catholic iconography (because of the Quiet Revolution; the period in Quebec's history when the Catholic Church lost its control of Quebecois culture).

Not all, the good old sexual and scatalogical ones are there, too. Merde.

Skepticism is not a position; it is an approach to claims.
Science is not a subject, but a method.

(23-01-2012 05:06 PM)germanyt Wrote: UK is also slang for gay. And just as derogatory as in the U.S. And I'm still pretty sure no one actually calls a cig a fag. That may be another word for them but no one seriously calls it that.

Fag meaning gay is more of an American thing.
Fags is slang used regularly for cigarettes, In fact I don't think I've ever heard fags being used to mean gay here.
I can't remember the last time I heard the word cigarette instead of fag for that matter.

(23-01-2012 05:06 PM)germanyt Wrote: UK is also slang for gay. And just as derogatory as in the U.S. And I'm still pretty sure no one actually calls a cig a fag. That may be another word for them but no one seriously calls it that.

Fag meaning gay is more of an American thing.
Fags is slang used regularly for cigarettes, In fact I don't think I've ever heard fags being used to mean gay here.
I can't remember the last time I heard the word cigarette instead of fag for that matter.

Yeah, but what the fuck do you know? You're fucking drunk all the time.

It was just a fucking apple man, we're sorry okay? Please stop the madness
~Izel

Quote:It is very insulting to show someone the bottom of your shoe and point in Iraq. It is equivalent to giving someone the bird in America.

British people call cigarettes FAGS.

I guess if you want to be polite, you must observe the customs of the society you're in.
There is a time and place to be vulgar, I wouldn't want to offend old people or be inappropriate with children present, but that's common sense I thnk. If my beliefs offend you, sorry.

Australians call cigarettes fags or coffin nails.

As for swearing personally I never got into the habit. and I think, like K./C it is the connotation that counts.

I couldn't put this in a better way. I agree. It really depends on the society and culture you are in. I have a few German friends who I talk to on a regular basis who throw around words like Scheiße all the time. der wetter ist scheiße. Das ist scheiße. Scheiße Scheiße Scheiße Scheiße.... At first when I met them, they were very proper, very reserved. Once we became more casual, they slowly got more casual with words and often these kinds of words were exchanged as if they were common. They took no offense to them, seemed perfectly fine with them. Sort of just a way of saying "That's crap." or "this is crap" or "the weather is shit." etc etc.

Now... I'm not saying all Germans talk this way. Simply that a few of my friends do and seem to have no problem with it.

Then came my first interaction with an older gentleman from the UK. I remember him commonly referring to us as "yanks" - now... every time I had generally heard the term "yanks" was following the word "those bloody" most the time. So of course, I thought he just had some issues with us. I finally went "Hey man! What's your problem with the US? Why do you have to keep calling us yanks?" and he said that it wasn't at all intended to be an offensive word, that's just how they refer to us. He didn't insinuate any issues with us, he just simply used that word since it's what he grew up using.

Oh. (well I'd never heard it used as generic dialect, so how would I be much the wiser?)

Again, not insinuating it is or isn't an offensive term. My understanding of the use vs his understanding of the use are different. I was told it was offensive. He said it wasn't. Does it mean it's common to use it in the UK? I don't know, maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps it's used more upon different age groups. Maybe it's offensive to some, perhaps it isn't to others. I don't live there, so how would I know for sure without interaction there? I just know what I grew up with.

Another case of words being given the power we provide to them.

Then of course with many religious types you have the use of words in the name of god being blasphemous, derogatory and anything offensive being sinful, therefore "offensive" and being refrained from. Give that to a vast majority of people in a society, and those of us who toss around such words talk like blasphemous cretons according to them.

But hey... I'm a sinful satan worshipping atheist as far as they are concerned. So fuck it, I'll be myself and talk about shit. Sonofabitchasskickin'pineapplestompingmotherfucker (just for kicks)